‘Space Painting by Zhang Enli’ shows in Hong Kong

Associated media

To coincide with Art Basel Hong Kong ‘Space Painting by Zhang Enli’, the first-ever solo exhibition of the Chinese contemporary artist Zhang Enli in Hong Kong, is being held from May 12 to July 13, 2014.

Zhang Enli gained an international platform at Art Basel in 2006. He has shown at Hauser & Wirth in London, New York and Zurich. For his first solo exhibition in Hong Kong, the artist will share his own vision of the space surrounding him as inspired by the wider Hong Kong cityscape. ‘Space Painting’ will also showcase Zhang’s recent works exploring creativity around space, influenced both by childhood memories and by a sense of security.

The curator, Adrian Cheng, is the Founder of the K11 Art Foundation, and over the last five years has become very active in the advancement of Chinese contemporary art worldwide, as well as the promotion of world art among the Chinese public.

About Zhang Enli

Zhang Enli was born in Jilin Province in 1965 and graduated from the Arts & Design Institute of Wuxi Technical University in 1989. Having studied traditional Chinese ink-and brush techniques at university, he taught himself Western art history as well as oil painting techniques and developed his own distinctive aesthetic throughout the 1990s.

While Zhang Enli’s early works focused on figurative caricatures, in the early 2000s the artist’s subject matter underwent a noticeable shift to a more subtle yet deceptively banal iconography.

Today, Zhang Enli’s art is concerned with  forgotten spaces and objects, and the documentation of the more prosaic aspects of contemporary life. Emphasizing details of ordinary objects that are often downplayed in conventional paintings, Zhang’s works seek to shine a new light on the familiar and overlooked, often in a series of works, depicting functional structures or container-like everyday items. While his paintings do not favour either Chinese or Western subject matters, Zhang’s brushstrokes, carefully planned and deftly applied, can be likened to traditional Chinese ink painting where every stroke on the canvas articulates parts that are significant to the whole.

'Space Painting by Zhang Enli' is the artist’s first solo exhibition in Hong Kong. From 12 May  to 13 July, Zhang will share his own vision of the space as inspired by the wider Hong Kong cityscape. The exhibition also showcases Zhang’s recent works, influenced by childhood memories and a sense of security.

Exhibition dates: May 12 to July 13, 2014

Entry fee: no charge

K11 Art Foundation Pop-up Space
G/F, Cosco Tower, Grand Millennium Plaza,
181 Queen's Road Central, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong